Farcing Mt. Kenya… Again!
I got lost in Central Kenya. Yes, again. We got lost riding our bikes in Central Kenya. And we spent about five minutes laughing about it. We drove around in a circle, literally! That’s not a figure of speech, and I will tell you about it just now. I previously wrote about my experience getting lost in Othaya, and maybe one or two people thought it was fiction. Well, this time, I had a witness, my friend Timam, the one I rode with to Moyale last December. (I will upload this story too soon.)
It’s Saturday morning, as early as 8.30am, and the day is already not going well. Timam and I are to ride to Embu to attend the wedding service of a friend of mine, whom I shall call Beth. The service starts at 10.30am.
I have been fixing up my bike for three days, and I’m pretty sure it’s now in good shape.
But then, just when I’m all dressed up to leave, the bike loses power. It can’t even climb the little step at the gate. I call Timam and ask him to give me a few minutes to change out the spark plugs. About half an hour later, the bike is good, and ready to roll.
We arrive at the wedding venue in Embu at about 12.30pm. We are told that the bride just arrived a few minutes ago so we won’t miss much. I take some photos at the wedding.
We really don’t pay full attention to the wedding. We are hush hush discussing how hot the bride is…
We decide to take lunch in Nyeri, then head back Nairobi through Othaya. We stop at Mr. Horn’s to say hi. I had promised him last time that if I ever pass here again, I will stop and say hi. He is not as jovial today, business does not look good.
“There was a passing out parade here at Kiganjo yesterday,” he says. The whole road in front of his business was filled with parked vehicles, and therefore he did no business the whole day.
We stop at Chaka to eat before continuing on our way through Nyeri town.
We fuel at Nyeri. As we leave, I ask Timam to go ahead, and he says ok. I assume he knows the way, and he thinks I know the way because I got lost there before (roll eyes). And that’s how our problems begin.
We ride away from Nyeri and take a right turn. Then we ride past a left turn, the place I came out of last time I got lost in Othaya. Timam is ahead, and I smile in my helmet because I think this time I’m assured of not getting lost. It’s 6pm. We ride for about 30 minutes before Timam stops. I stop by him, and he asks in that Nigerian accent: “Do you no deh whey?”
“What? I was following you, I thought you knew the way!”
“I thought YOU knew the way, I kept signalling you to pass and go ahead!”
“Shit… Where are we now?”
We call over a man walking to ask him where we are.
“Is this the road to Othaya?” we ask.
“Oh yes!” He replies confidently. We are happy! But then he adds: “But you have to go to Nyeri first, then go to Othaya.”
WHAT?!
“Yeah, don’t worry, you are not lost! Just go to Nyeri, then Othaya. It’s straight forward!”
“But we just came from Nyeri!”
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